"Governor Huntsman's view remains that intervention in Libya was not core to our national security interest," said Huntsman press secretary Tim Miller.

Huntsman's position makes him the first 2012 candidate to outline a clear — and unchanged — view of the Libya mission, in light of the Muammar Qadhafi regime's impending collapse. It also confirms that the former ambassador to China plans to stand his ground as one of the GOP presidential field's leading critics of America's foreign wars.

Huntsman issued a statement earlier Monday saying he hoped Qadhafi's ouster would be a "step toward openness, democracy and human rights for a people who greatly deserve it."

But Miller said that doesn't change Huntsman's assessment of military engagement in Libya as a costly distraction that the United States "can't afford."

"I would have chosen from the beginning not to intervene in Libya," Huntsman said in a May interview on ABC's "Good Morning America."